20 youth sailors compete in 2018 BVI Dinghy Championships

May 22, 2018 by

By Royal BVI Yacht Club

The BVI Team – Samuel Allen (champ fleet) plus green fleet sailors Ethan George, Jayde Fanord, Matthew & Benedict Grayson and Victoria Rowlette with Commodore Giles Wood and Tamsin Rand Photo: RBVIYC / Clair Burke

The 2018 BVI Dinghy Championships welcomed 20 competitors representing the BVI, St Thomas and Puerto Rico.  Racing on May 19 and 20, Tanner Krygsveld from St Thomas Yacht Club was the overall Optimist winner with Paul Johnson taking the Laser 4.7 title.

Out on the championship course, sailors were treated to 20+ knots of wind and waves, peppered by squalls adding even more wind and rain to the mix.  The skill of these sailors is so impressive, on days when most would decide to stay ashore, they were eager to get out there and thoroughly enjoyed the challenges of the conditions.

Tanner Krygsveld (STYC), last year’s white fleet winner, was a force to be reckoned with this weekend, finishing first in five of the 11 races.  In second place, five points adrift on 26, was Andy Yu, also from St Thomas, with a consistent series including two race wins.  Third overall and first in the red fleet was Winn Majette.  The BVI’s Samuel Allen had a challening weekend, finishing in ninth place.

The Optimist Green fleet completed all but one of their 18 races in the inner marina, where (since Irma removed the docks and boats) there is an excellent arena for small boat racing providing a treat for spectators to watch the action right on their doorsteps..literally!

On Sunday morning, they bravely joined the championship fleet race course for their first race of the day.

“Congratulations to all the sailors for taking on the challenge, it was a major achievement for all of them to race in those conditions.  Well done to Coby Fagan who finished in first place, Victoria Rowlette second and Matthew Grayson third,” said Tamsin Rand, RBVIYC manager.

The fleet then returned to the inner marina for a further six races. Overall it was Coby Fagan from St Thomas Yacht Club who dominated the fleet, finishing in first place in 13 of the races.  Other race winners were Victoria Rowlette, second overall; Amanda Plaxton, third overall; Matthew Grayson, fourth overall.

Four Laser sailors, wisely selecting the 4.7 rig, took to the race course on Saturday with Paul Johnson coming away as the clear winner.  All the Laser sailors, Paul, Rory, Tom and Charlie, provided great entertainment to the spectators who look forward to regular Laser racing in the near future.

The trophies this year were handmade from recycled materials damaged by Hurricane Irma.  Presented on Sunday at the Youth Sailing base in Nanny Cay, the Opti and Laser replicas were made from a shutter from Government House and pieces of the Royal BVI Yacht Club deck.

The RBVIYC thanked event hosts Nanny Cay, as well as Doyle Sails and all the competitors, parents, support teams and  volunteers on and off the water who made the championships possible.

Results:

Optimist Championship Fleet
Red Fleet
1. Winn Majette – 38 pts (3rd overall)
2. Caroline Sibilly – 44 pts
3. Katherine Majette – 58 pts

Blue Fleet
1. Tanner Krygsveld  – 21 pts (1st overall)
2. Andy Yu – 26 pts (2nd overall)
3. Alejo di Blasi – 55 pts

Opti Green Fleet
1. Coby Fagan
2. Victoria Rowlette
3. Amanda Plaxton

Laser 4.7
1. Paul Johnson
2. Rory Lynch
3. Tom Lilleyman
4. Charlie Peschardt

Click here for full results.

Click here for high res photos.

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Thad Lettsome in China for 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships

December 7, 2017 by

Source: Royal BVI Yacht Club

Thad Lettsome and coach Chris Watters in Sanya, China for the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships Dec 6-9. Photo: Royal BVI Yacht Club

Thad Lettsome will be representing the Virgin Islands at the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championship in Sanya, China, December 6 – 9 when he sails in the Laser Radial Class against 51 other competitors.

Nearly 400 competitors will race across nine classes and with just one spot available to each country in each class, competition even to get selected is fierce.

The Youth Worlds is the pinnacle event in the youth racing calendar and, over the years, a long list of sailing legends such as Sir Ben Ainslie and Russell Coutts have won medals.

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A challenging weekend in St Thomas for VI youth sailors

June 22, 2016 by

By BVI Royal Yacht Club

Ryan Lettsome placed second in U10 white fleet at St Thomas International Optimist Regatta. Photo: Matias Capizzano

Ryan Lettsome placed second in U10 white fleet at St Thomas International Optimist Regatta. Photo: Matias Capizzano

The 2016 St Thomas International Optimist Regatta, presented by EMS Virgin Islands, took place from 17-19 June with the BVI represented by five sailors. Conditions throughout the weekend were very challenging with strong winds and big swell on the race course.

Four sailors raced in the 80-boat Championship fleet, Rayne Duff (red), Nathan Haycraft (blue), Ryan Lettsome (white) and Max Reshetiloff (red).

2014 champion, Rayne Duff was looking to re-take the title from rival, Mia Nicolosi but it was not to be this year. Despite winning more races than the ISV sailor, Duff also posted uncharacteristic scores on day one. A capsize in the first race lead to a 25th place finish and 21st in the final race on Friday was too much to recover from.

Unable to discard both of these double-digit scores, Duff ended the championship on a high with wins in the final two races but had to settle for fourth overall and third in the red fleet. Also racing in the red fleet was Max Reshetiloff who finished in 62nd overall and 34th in the red fleet.

Blue fleet racer Nathan Haycraft had a consistent weekend, taking his best finish in race six with a sixth. Finishing in 15th place overall secured fourth place in the blue fleet.

Ryan Lettsome finished in 56th place overall which earned him second place in the white fleet for sailors under 10. Lettsome sailed a consistent series with his best result coming in race seven which he finished in 37th place.

Twenty eight sailors competed in the green fleet and over the three days they completed 25 races. Kael Chalwell, who recently graduated from the KATS programme and joined the BVI Race Team, was competing at his first overseas regatta and finished an excellent 15th position. Chalwell put in a very solid performance, with seven race finishes in the top ten and a best race finish of third.

Next up for Team BVI is the Optimist North American Championships from 10-18 July in Antigua. Representing the BVI will be Rayne Duff, Nathan Haycraft, Kyle Roose and Ryan Lettsome.

Results
Red Fleet
3 Rayne Duff (4th overall)
34 Max Reshetiloff (62 overall)

Blue Fleet
4 Nathan Haycraft (15 overall)

White Fleet
2 – Ryan Lettsome (56 overall)

Green Fleet
15 – Kael Chalwell

Click here for photos

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Youth Sailors compete in St Thomas, Bermuda

October 16, 2015 by
Bermuda Junior Gold Cup. Photo: Provided

Bermuda Junior Gold Cup. Photo: Provided

The BVI was well represented with eight youth sailors competing in the St. Thomas Columbus Day Regatta on October 10-11. The regatta hosted 13 Optimist Green Fleet racers, 13 Optimist Championship racers, and 5 Club 420 teams.

Saturday conditions were 12-15 knots of breeze with large waves on the Club 420 and Championship course by Cow and Calves rocks. Sunday conditions calmed down when the racing area moved to Pillsbury Sound. The Optimist Green Fleet raced in Cowpet Bay both days.

BVI Green Fleet Optimist sailors included Nicolas Haycraft, Scott Kirk, and Noah George.

Noah George’s best race was an impressive 4th place finish and a respectable 8th place overall. Nicolas Haycraft’s first row starts led to consistent finishes and landed him in the 5th place spot overall.

Ryan Lettsome, Kyle Roose, and Anya and Max Reshetiloff competed for team BVI in the Optimist Championship fleet.

Max Reshetiloff finished 9th overall with a couple of great starts. With his steadfast perseverance in his first ever championship fleet event, Ryan Lettsome took home the 2nd place white fleet trophy.

The top Championship Optimist sailor from team BVI was Kyle Roose. With his regular finishes in the top half of the fleet, along with taking a 2nd place in his best race, Kyle finished 6th overall and took home the 2nd place trophy for Optimist Blue Fleet.
The Club 420 racing was tight all weekend. After missing the first two races Saturday, BVI sailor Sam Morrell and his crew, Hanna Clemens sailed very well the rest of the weekend. Morrell and his crew finished 2nd overall, just a few points behind the 1st place finisher Teddy Nicolosi and his crew, Amanda Engeman from St. Thomas.

Also racing over the weekend was BVI sailor, Rayne Duff who competed in the Bermuda Junior Gold Cup form October 8 – 11. The regatta was an invite-only, usually offered to sailors who have placed well in their categories over the last year.

During the regatta the conditions varied from extremely light to medium winds. On the first day Rayne had good results, first race with a first, keeping him at the top of the fleet. During the next couple of days Rayne’s status stayed at the top of the fleet, and was able to discard his last race (a 23rd). Rayne ended up in 4th place out of 45 competitors which, according to the Royal BVI Yacht Club, is to be considered a great result for a first regatta of this calibre.

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VI youth sailors at Optinam 2015

July 7, 2015 by
Virgin Islands Team at the The Optimist North American Championship, Optinam 2015, Antigua. Photo: Matias Capizzano

Virgin Islands Team at the The Optimist North American Championship, Optinam 2015, Antigua. Photo: Matias Capizzano

The Optimist North American Championship, Optinam 2015, gets underway today, Tuesday, July 7, 2015 in Antigua with four Virgin Islands’ sailors competing against 23 other countries. The event, which runs from July 5 – 13, takes place out of Nelson’s Dockyard, English Harbour.

The VI’s four-member team includes Max Rechilitoff, (red fleet) Kyle Roose, (blue fleet) Nathan Haycraft (red fleet) and Rayne Duff (blue fleet).

Today is the first day of the qualification series (spanning 3 days) and sailors are to race in three groups (“fleets”) of 54 competitors each, starting at 11:00am.

Monday, July 6, 2015 was a practice day and with winds blowing at 13 to 15 knots, was the less windy of the days since most of the teams arrived in Antigua, it was a relief for some and an opportunity to relax for others.
The practice race saw nearly 40 sailors on the course side with a U flag which has been the norm for many years, (even to cross the finishing line in first place is considered bad luck), and only 20 of the sailors in each fleet “finished” the race.

There were only two fleets for the practice race: sailors with odd sail numbers and sailors with even sail numbers.

Shore side activities included finishing the measurement whereby all teams completed the ‘race management’ entry requirements. A short and quiet team leaders’ meeting took place, followed by the first coaches’ meeting, at which the race officers and judges introduced themselves and gave an overview of their goals and expectations from the teams.

The Seaboard Marine Optimist North American Championship 2015 is being organised by the Antigua Yacht Club under the authority of the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA).

There are 162 participants entered, representing 23 countries: Argentina, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Switzerland, Uruguay, USA, US Virgin Islands and Antigua.

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BVI’s youth sailors face fierce competition at St Thomas International Optimist Regatta

June 29, 2015 by

By BVI Platinum

Rayne Duff enjoys a light moment at the St. Thomas International Optimist Regatta Photo: Matias Capizzano

Rayne Duff enjoys a light moment at the St. Thomas International Optimist Regatta
Photo: Matias Capizzano

Top youth sailor, Rayne Duff fought hard, but settled for fourth at St. Thomas International Optimist Regatta and Clinic which was held at St. Thomas Yacht Club from June 15-21.

The first day of races started off at an area set just past Cow and Calf rocks outside of Cowpet Bay with medium to light winds, but very choppy waves which sailors found very difficult to deal with at times.

The team responded very well after the first two races and the kids were quickly able to adapt to the conditions, which showed with wins in the third and fourth race from Rayne Duff.

Day two of the racing was very similar conditions, but after a strong showing from Duff he went in for the day with an overall position of 1st with one day to go.

On the third and final day of fleet racing, the wind picked up dramatically with many of the sailors struggling to cope with the conditions and keep their boats flat.

Duff won the first race of the day, but fierce competitor Teddy Nicolosi of USVI knew he had to cover Rayne and force him into getting some bad results in order to stand a chance of winning.

Nicolosi successfully covered Duff tack for tack in spite of both finishing deep in the pack at 45th and 49th, respectively, in the 62-boat advanced optimist fleet.

Nicolosi’s game plan was to use this poor score as his one throw-out. Unfortunately, Duff had finished 17th in an earlier race and had to keep that double-digit score since his 49th place now turned into his one worst score throw-out.

That put Duff a nearly 20 points behind Nicolosi going into the last race of the regatta.

Nicolosi finished the regatta in 1st place overall with Duff finishing in fourth. For the BVI, Nathan Haycraft finished 19th overall after a strong collection of results on the final day.

James Rajic-Knight finished 48th, Maxwell Reshetiloff finished in 58th with Kyle Roose close behind in 61st. Most of the competitors said it had been one of the most competitive regattas they had ever sailed in.

The regatta also featured team racing. The BVI team won 2 out of their 5 races, which unfortunately wasn’t enough to qualify for the semi finals. 10 kids from the BVI took part in the event with 5 in opti championship fleet and five in opti fleet.

BVI’s Team: Rayne Duff, Nathan Haycraft, James Rajic-Knight, Maxwell Reshetiloff and Kyle Roose, Anya Reshetiloff, Ryan Lettsome, Nicolas Haycraft, Connor MacCallum and Scott Kirk.

The Royal BVI Yacht Club thanked Moorings, Nanny Cay, NAGICO Insurance as well as St. Thomas Yacht Club for running such a successful event.

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